A College Student Was Killed After Saving Teen Girls From Male Harassers

A German college student saved two teenage girls from harassers—but her act of kindness led to her untimely death.

On November 15, Tugce Albayrak heard two teen girls crying out for help from the bathroom of a McDonald's in Offenbach, a town near Frankfurt, according to German radio station Deutsche Welle. She intervened and protected them from three male harassers, but suffered the consequences later, when one of the men, an 18-year-old reportedly named Sanel M, punched her so hard that she fell on the pavement and suffered fatal brain damage.

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Doctors declared her brain-dead, and her parents took her off life support on what would have been her 23rd birthday, November 28. Her attacker has admitted to his crime. Police are still looking for more witnesses, along with the rescued girls, to come forward.

Since then, Germans everywhere are rallying to make sure the aspiring high-school teacher didn't die in vain. A petition calling for her to get a national award for merit has racked up more than 164,000 signatures, and there have been several vigils across the country for her.

German President Joachim Gauck celebrated Albayrak's memory in a letter to her parents: "Tugce has earned gratitude and respect from us all," he wrote. "She will always remain a role model to us, our entire country mourns with you. Where other people looked the other way, Tugce showed exemplary courage and moral fortitude."